Sciatica can be a pain in the butt (pun intended ? )
Have you ever had to cancel a round of golf (or any other activity) due to excruciating pain shooting down your leg?
Do you long for the days of past when you were able to spring out of bed without debilitating back pain?
Do you worry about picking something up and ‘throwing out’ your back?
What would your life be like if the uncertainty of the sciatica was gone? Knowing that you would NEVER feel that knife-like stabbing low back pain and burning leg pain ever again?
You’d probably be ECSTATIC!
Sadly enough… 4 in 5 American adults (at some point in their life) experience what they would consider ‘sciatica’.
You may be wondering that if it is so common, then why can’t we figure out a tried and true solution?
Reason being is that in order to find a solution, you need to know what causes ‘sciatica’.
Sciatica Explained
‘Sciatica’ has become a very non-specific diagnosis that broadly covers pain, burning, tingling, or numbness in the back, butt, leg or foot.
It is increasingly frustrating the number of times people have presented to the office with the diagnosis of ‘sciatica’ yet none of them have the same presentations of symptoms.
Some may even consider this a ‘garbage’ diagnosis or catch all diagnosis.
What we do know, is that they symptoms associated with ‘sciatica’ relate to the sciatic nerve in some fashion.
The sciatic nerve is the 2nd largest nerve in your body (after your spinal cord) and is comprised of 5 smaller peripheral nerves (L3, L4, L5, S1, S2). This nerve runs from the middle of your pelvis to the bottom of your big toe. So, it’s understandable that ‘sciatica’ can lead to a myriad of symptoms as a result of the sciatic nerve being inflamed.
Unfortunately, the length, complexity and the fact that 20+ spinal joints are potentially involved with the sciatic nerve, has led to sciatic being a diagnostic nightmare! This leads to false positives leaving many with different answers from different doctors resulting in confusion and frustration.
Can TruCentered Chiropractic Care Help?
What I can tell you is that ‘sciatica’ itself IS NOT the problem.
Almost always ‘sciatica’ is collateral damage as a result of a core problem which is irritating the nerves that make up the sciatic nerve bundle.
Most often, we find that when someone has an Atlas Displacement Complex (ADC) that it can lead to altered posture.
See, the most movable bone in the body is located at the base of the skull is called the Atlas (C1). When the Atlas has lost its normal position the weight of the head is shifted to one side of the other.
Once this shift occurs, the body will begin to compensate. The shoulders will typically become lower and the pelvis will distort in order to compensate for the lack of balance in the upper neck.
This functional pelvic distortion is the underlying factor in many of those who suffer from ‘sciatica’. The twisting and tilting of the pelvis cause a tethering on the sciatic nerve, inflammation and muscle spasms in many cases.
If you’re suffering from ‘sciatica’ or sciatic-like pain, the first step is to find out the cause of them. This is where you probably needs some help.
As you may have figured out, there is no simple, magic-bullet solution for everyone. So, the next best thing is to correctly determine what the core problem is – that’s something we can help with.
But the truth is…I don’t know if we can help you.
That’s why we offer complimentary consultations so that together we can decide if we are the best pace to get the care you need. If not, we have an excellent network of other health care practitioners who share the same goal as us – to find the best solution for you.
